Three residents have received Hanover’s highest honours.
Ruth Ann Bauman has been named the Citizen of the Year, 16 year old Sonu Solanki the Youth of the Year and 84 year old Ed Peppler is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.
For Bauman — the recognition is both humbling and overwhelming.
She has spent the last 25 years of her life volunteering throughout the community in various ways — including minor hockey, Big Brothers and Sisters, blood donor clinics, the Hospital Auxiliary, Horticulture Society and Hanover Theatre, just to name a few.
She calls volunteering a rewarding experience and encourages other to give it a try.
Bauman says the key to success is to find something your interested in first — if you enjoy it, than she says you’ll stick with it.
Lifetime Achievement winner Ed Peppler is out of province and missed his own party.
His daughter Nancy Peppler was on hand to accept his award — and she says her father’s love of Hanover and enthusiasm to give back is what makes him so special.
Peppler — who once ran the Peppler Furniture factory in Hanover — has been involved as Hospital Board Chair, Public Utilities Chair, Children’s Aid Vice Chair as well as members of the Hanover Chamber of Commerce and Saugeen Conservation Authority.
It’s no mystery why 16 year old Sonu Solanki won the Youth of the Year title.
The JDSS student is not only a two time Canada wide Science fair winner — she’s also involved in student Council, volunteers at the local elementary schools and is the President of Youth Roots.
Solanki says Hanover is brimming with opportunities for youth — they just need to have the ambition to get out there and take advantage of it.
